Badminton teams, 2012

An Indonesian doubles team, a Chinese team and two teams from South Korea served into nets or hit shots wide. The crowd responded by booing.

The Badminton World Federation believed they were trying to lose so they could get an easier draw through to the medal stages.

Tonya Harding, 1994

Just before the US National Figure Skating Championships, skater Nancy Kerrigan was injured in an attack which threatened her participation.

The attacker was the bodyguard and ex-boyfriend of her arch-rival on the ice, Tonya Harding, who later got three years’ probation and 500 hours’ community service.

A rock opera about the incident opens in the US next month.

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Attack: Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan

Chess players, 1920s

It wasn’t a high-profile international game, but a contest at a fairground in New York between an unknown chess player and a mechanical man. After a chess automaton was set up at Coney Island in 1915, one unnamed player took losing so badly he shot the automaton – killing its hidden operator.

On another occasion, a lady was so outraged at losing, she attacked the automaton with a hat pin, stabbing its operator in the mouth.

Diego Maradona, 1986

In the quarter finals of the World Cup in Mexico, England were up against Argentina, whose captain Diego Maradona produced some incredible football – but also a staggering handball which resulted in a goal that helped knock England out.

Maradona claimed after the game it was nothing to do with him but was “the hand of God”.

England manager Sir Bobby Robson was more accurate when he said it was the result of “the hand of a rascal”.

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Hand of God: Maradona punches the ball into the England goal

Greg Chappell, 1981

Australia were playing New Zealand in a one-day international cricket match in Melbourne with the batting Kiwis needing a six to tie with the Aussies.

Captain Greg Chappell instructed his brother Trevor, right, to bowl the ball underarm along the ground, ensuring they never stood a chance.

The move was not illegal but New Zealand PM Robert Muldoon called it, “an act of cowardice”.

Piero Alva, 2013

When Juan Flores, the goalkeeper of Peruvian club Unión Comercio, collapsed with heat exhaustion last year most people expected the opposing team – as is the convention when a player is injured – to knock the ball out of play.

But César Vallejo striker Piero Alva was either unaware of this convention, or most likely didn’t care, and he decided to score a goal instead. After the game he expressed no sympathy for 26-year-old Flores, simply saying: “Life is for the living.”

Mikhail Youzhny, 2008

After missing an easy shot, the volatile Russian tennis player threw an almighty tantrum during the Miami Masters and attacked his racquet with his own head.

Fans watched as he cracked his skull three times, opening up a bloody wound and forcing a stoppage at a crucial stage. He went on to win the next seven points – and the match.

Temper: Mikhail Youzhny

Ayrton Senna, 1990

In 1990, Brazilian F1 star Ayrton Senna rammed into long-standing rival Alain Prost at the first corner of the Japanese Grand Prix at 160mph. The collision secured the world title for Senna.

At the time he said: “We are competing to win and if you no longer go for a gap, you are no longer a racing driver.”

A year later, he admitted he did it deliberately.

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Collision: Senna and Prost after their collision at Suzuka

Oscar Pistorius, 2012

In 2008 the South African Paralympian successfully challenged authorities who questioned whether his running blades gave him an unfair advantage.

But in the London 2012 Games, Pistorius, now 27, then questioned the legitimacy of the large blades of his Brazilian rival Alan Oliveira, when he beat Pistorius in the men’s T44 200metres.

The International Paralympic Committee responded by pointing out that Paralympians’ blades are in proportion to their body and Pistorius later apologised for his outburst.

Sylvester Camouche, 1990

When the horse Landing Officer finished first in a race at Louisiana’s Delta Downs Racetrack, in the US, onlookers were shocked because it was an outsider with odds of 23-1.

It was all too good to be true – jockey Camouche took advantage of a foggy day, crossed the course and resumed the race 24 lengths ahead.